and we are made of stardust and late-night lovers! we are alive!
@chibun-days
she/her. a fan of bsd, jjk, hsr, and hi3. i like analyzing characters. will occasionally (?) post short snippets.. current obsession is phainon.. ao3 is @livelikecamellias
(another) another dazai character study fic snippet - odasaku special appearance??
--
???. and--
A conversation, late at night in Bar Lupin with only an orange-and-black-spotted tabby as it’s witness:
“Hey, Odasaku?”
“Yeah?”
“You do know that I’m not a good person, right?”
“...Yeah.”
Ango cited that he had to leave early in preparation for some intelligence-related operations, though Dazai doesn't recall hearing about any crucial investigations—so it must either be so unimportant that Dazai doesn't oversee their work, or simply outside of his area of expertise. Maybe he should ask Chuuya, though he'd rather not ask the slug for anything.
“Huh! So you still want to be my friend regardless? That’s so—”
“What does you being a good or bad person have to do with me being your friend?”
A pause. The clink of a glass. (Dazai very, very carefully does. Not. Flinch.)
“Besides, not being a good person doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.”
“...So it’s like that! I didn’t know you were into saying such sappy things, Odasaku! You should tell some of those to Ango next time, I bet he’ll freak out—”
“Dazai. Listen to me.”
The clock ticks ten.
“...I’m listening.”
The cat purrs. A year from now, Ango Sakaguchi will betray the Port Mafia, and Oda Sakunosuke will die in Dazai’s arms after killing the entirety of Mimic in an act of revenge for the death of his adopted children. Dazai will come the closest to crying than he has ever since he was thirteen years old, and then disappear off the face of the planet for two years or so.
“You’re seventeen, Dazai.”
--
hi there! or hi there again. i love odasaku, and the dynamic between dazai and oda is definitely one of my favorites to write. i was debating on whether to make this scene as detailed as it was, or just include the dialogue because that's what's really important. i'll start editing soon so i'll figure it out somehow.
also, it's my opinion/headcanon that dazai definitely caught onto the fact that ango was kind of suspicious in little manners, but subconsciously denied/provided excuses for it because he valued ango as a friend.
i've read some parts of the day i picked up dazai, and it gave me a lot of insight to oda's character, especially since it's from his pov. not only that, for some reason odasaku is just really easy to write. i am a fan.
you ever get the urge to be wildly productive then actually work on your projects and notes and writing for an extended period of time? yeah me neither. i'm good at the first part tho
thoughts on my interpretation of dazai + his past in regards to fanfiction writing
this mainly applies to dazai during 15 and his time in the pm, but could work for ada dazai albeit with minor adjustments
see on the one hand i have the urge to write dazai as incomprehensible unfathomable indecipherable. he'll be darkness incarnate pretending at being human, and he can be something colder and crueler than anyone else in the world. he can be something dead. he'll be a living corpse, closer to death than living.
on the other hand i want him to just be a mess of a human being who's a little too smart and a little too empty and little too hurt. he can be someone who's tried desperately to find meaning in life, failed at every turn, and buries himself in darkness instead until it permeates his very being. he chokes on kindness, if that one episode of bsd wan where atsushi gives him flowers is any indication. he can see himself as irredeemable, regardless of how other people perceive him. he can genuinely believe that he can't possibly have positive human relationships not founded on mutual goals or manipulation, as i write in his perception of chuuya at the start of 15.
the issue with both of my interpretations (i am fonder of the second one) is that we haven't gotten any actual backstory for dazai. we know what he was like at fourteen/fifteen—but by then, he'd already established his worldview and opinion that there is no meaning in living. mori literally finds him when he tries to commit suicide; the pm may have encouraged his cruelty and violence, but that was all already there. what happened before that instilled in dazai's mind that he wanted to die? despite being given a frankly massive amount of coverage in light novels, the manga, and the anime, we still know virtually nothing about dazai's past. it's so difficult to properly analyze and understand dazai's character and actions because we don't know the reasoning behind these things. all individuals are dependent on their past experiences—it would be necessary to understand dazai's past in order to get a better picture of his character as a whole.
my first interpretation assumes that dazai has, from birth—similarly to yozo in no longer human—always been "empty". it assumes that dazai has never felt like a human being, never been able to understand them, and never been able to relate to them. the second interpretation, however, assumes that while dazai may have felt alienated as a child, there is a reason for said alienation and the ensuing suicide attempt and worldview.
the key part, however, brings into question what exactly the reason was: bsd follows (very, very lightly) the ramifications of a post-war setting. you see it in fukuzawa and yosano's backstories, as well as fukuchi's motive in villainy. did dazai somehow participate in the war? was it instead abuse by an organization or by family that impacted dazai's understanding of living? it's impossible to guess the canon backstory of dazai, but i think it'd be reasonable to assume that there is at the very least a concrete reason or event in dazai's past that results in his mannerisms and behavior that we see in canon. i would be hesitant to go into government experiment/inhuman territory, however, because that ruins a very important parallel: the one between chuuya and dazai.
i've mentioned it before—essentially, dazai is human but feels/acts inhuman, while chuuya isn't human (though certain evidence suggests otherwise, but the point stands) but feels/acts wildly human. they're eachother's antithesis; however, they wholeheartedly and without a doubt believe that the other is irreplaceably human. if dazai does turn out be some aspect of the book (as theories suggest), that doesn't quite make sense in regards to the consistency of this parallel, which is very important overall to soukoku's dynamic. i have so many more thoughts about this but i'll stop here for today.
in short i am trying to write a cohesive backstory for dazai that actually makes sense in my fic (i am failing)
One night, after a mission with Chuuya using Corruption and Dazai nearly not reaching him in time, Dazai asks Chuuya a question.
“Say, shrimp?”
Chuuya doesn’t look up from where he’s splayed out on the bed. “Call me that again and I’ll bash you into the ground.”
“Nope! Chuuya’s too tired to even land a blow on me right now!”
It’s true; they’re both exhausted, Chuuya from Corruption and Dazai from almost letting Chuuya die. And living. They must both be tired from living. Dazai doesn’t know what goes on in Chuuya’s head most of the time despite being so good at manipulation, though, so it must just be him for now.
Chuuya groans. “Watch me, fucker,” he threatens, but doesn’t make to get off of the bed. Dazai’s laying on the nearby sofa, staring up at the ceiling.
“Sooooo, Chuuya…”
“Stop stalling and just spit it out.”
“Don’t be so impatient, chibi! We have all the time in the world. But if you’re so insistent…” Dazai begins tracing an imaginary line circling over his right eye, over his arms, over his coat, then onto the armchair’s faux leather. “What do you dream about?”
A pause. Chuuya closes his eyes. “...I don’t dream.”
Dazai doesn’t stop tracing. His finger is beginning to feel warm from friction. “Hm.”
The conversation ends. They do not speak for the rest of the night.
Dazai, pillowing his head on folded arms and watching moonlight shift through the safehouse window, considers Chuuya. Considers himself. Considers dreaming.
Even if Chuuya doesn’t dream, he wants to dream, and of beautiful and lovely things to boot. No matter what, that will be what always makes Chuuya human—so, what does that make Dazai?
It doesn’t matter that Chuuya can’t dream—the boy wants to and would dream about a better life; his ghosts laid to rest and his loved ones soft in the morning light. If he could, Chuuya would dream about hope and grace and happiness. Dazai just dreams about death.
i am back at it again. no i have not read stormbringer. yes i am sorry i will get to it. however i do know the plot and that chuuya doesn't dream so a win is a win
not much to say about this passage in general, except that you can tell i believe that dazai fell first and fell harder
mild analysis below:
also i haven't been able to fall asleep for the past two days because i keep thinking about how dazai and chuuya parallel eachother so innately in that dazai is human but does not feel/act human and chuuya is not human (even tho yeah he was implied to be human at the end of stormbringer but the sentiment stands) but feels/acts wildly human yet they believe wholeheartedly and without a doubt that the other is irrevocably human. "i'm human too, you know" is the cause of at least 10% of my insomnia.
random snippet of a conversation i'm writing for ch 2 of my dazai character study fic
17. and you, smoking to die
Around a week after the Arahabaki Incident, Hirotsu seeks Dazai out. He doesn’t quite know why, until with a gloved hand that smells of smoke, the older man hands Dazai’s console back to him.
“I believe this is yours,” Hirotsu says, not making a move to leave. His hand is still outstretched, arm suspended in the air awkwardly.
Dazai, not fucking understanding, chirps, “You would be correct! I was beginning to think Hirotsu-san discovered a newfound passion for video games and would never give my console back to me!”
There; an edge of passive-aggressiveness. Hirotsu is still just— standing there, holding the console. And, oh, the man pulls out a goddamn lighter and cigarette, and neither of them are speaking, why isn’t Hirotsu leaving —
The older man lights his cigarette, and Dazai wants to leave. He prances around instead, Mori’s coat billowing behind him. “Hirotsu-san, don’t you know that your lungs are rotting? The smoke— ugh , ew—” Dazai bats away the wafts of smoke trailing from Hirotsu, with varying degrees of mild success. The man in question closes his eyes and puffs out a breath before looking up at the sky, like he’s making a decision.
“Dazai-kun.” Finally.
“Decided to speak up, Hirotsu-san? What is it? If it’s anything related to that hatrack, I won’t—”
Hirotsu steps forward and places the game firmly into Dazai’s hands. “I—” the mafioso clears his throat, “—cleared the level you were having difficulties with.”
…What?
Dazai, feeling strangely absent in his own body, clicks the buttons on the game only to discover that Hirotsu isn’t lying. YOU CLEARED LVL 109! fills the screen with big, blocky red text, bright, colorful confetti and party poppers in the background.
Hirotsu hadn’t lied.
He hadn’t lied .
Dazai—
“If you…need any help with future levels, feel free to seek me out. Just not during work, since I’d prefer to play such a difficult game when I’m not preoccupied with other matters.” Hirotsu looks at him, cigarette smoke drifting around him, and Dazai lifts his head to meet the man’s eyes.
“I,” Dazai’s mouth is dry. Hirotsu may not be a liar, but Dazai is still achingly empty. He forces his mouth to form syllables, words. “I. Probably won’t ever do that.”
Hirotsu smiles, eyes filled with an indecipherable sadness, and says, “I know.”
idk how to feel about this. some of the stuff here might not make sense since the context was in the first chapter but. welp i love hirotsu
also did anybody catch the ch 109 number reference. i suck
Ok. So this is probably not the analysis you think it is. I'm not going to talk Dazai's dynamics with specific characters - I think that's better suited to personal interpretation and I've kind of already gone over my thoughts on Dazai's close relationships starting with this analysis here.
Instead, this is more about Dazai's thoughts on human beings in general, which, admittedly, can be a little hard to parse. There's a variety of thoughts on this amongst the fandom, ranging from the one extreme of "he loves people" to the other "he doesn't care at all".
This is merely my own thoughts on the matter. I don't know if this fully counts as an analysis, but I hope it at least sparks some discussion or helps piece some things together.
As you might've gathered from the title, I lean towards the idea that he likes people. There's always been things he's liked about people, as a matter of fact, but I think the nature of what he likes about them has changed across his development.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that Dazai's development as a character is, rather than a behavioural shift, instead based on his changing perception of human nature, and the value found in human connection. His methods are largely similar, however, the thought behind them and the direction they're given is different.
I'm going to be jumping around a bit with the timeline, so here's the core ideas in advance just so it's easier to follow.
Belief #1: "People are stronger in groups than individually." This has not changed across his character arc.
Belief #2: "There is a divide between myself and humanity that cannot be broached." to "Some of that divide may not be as wide as it seems." This development is still ongoing and key to his overall character conflict.
Belief #3: "Attachment is an incomprehensible motivator." to "Attachment is a reliable human drive." Take a close look at how his plans change as he ages.
Belief #4: "People just can't stop killing each other." to "There is beauty in the fighting human spirit." This one is a bit more conjecture based on hints in the story, but I think it holds some weight.
Belief #1: Groups over Individuals
This point requires very little explanation. If you look at the intro to the DHC conflict, linked here, you’ll find that he actually says it outright.
"What's more, you underestimated the power found in organizations. Humans are stronger in groups than they are as individuals. That's just the undeniable truth, Mr. One Man Army."
Again, in Stormbringer, Dazai confidently says the following:
"This is how the world works. It's an absolute truth no matter when or where you go. Groups are stronger than individuals...There's strength in numbers."
This is a canonical belief of his that he holds very strongly to, and at a young age at that. This is a primarily logical value to place on others. It's interesting though, because it goes beyond just "strength in numbers".
His further dialogue in the DHC prologue has him go on to respond to Shibusawa asking if the reason he joined the Mafia had to do with the strength in a group affirmatively. It ties in quite interestingly with what he tells Odasaku in The Day I Picked Up Dazai as the reason he should consider joining the Mafia, and Oda's own thoughts on the organization.
If one of their members is attacked by an outsider, they will turn into a row of fangs and bite the enemies.
"If you join, you will no longer be bothered by anything from your past. Because no past can touch that place."
He's said to speak with some pride about the organization in this scene. It's not just about strength. It's about safety. It's about knowing someone has your back. It is, ultimately, about trust.
So, really, it's no wonder that Dazai thrives in, and is honestly at his best, when working in partnerships.
The comfort in partnerships appears to have come rather quickly to Dazai in Fifteen; he works seamlessly with Chuuya after only a few minutes planning and is much more "alive" than in the previous scenes. We see a similar level of confidence, even unusually brazen cockiness, when working with him again in chapter 31. Dazai also works fluidly and has incredible faith in Kunikida, which explains their flawless teamwork in Entrance Exam.
He appears to be at his most confident when he is working with someone else. Look at these facial expressions.
So, it's no surprise that his response to crafting a way to protect Yokohama... is to create another partnership - this time between Atsushi and Akutagawa. And it's clearly not just for ability complements, but also some kind of genuine belief they have what it takes to support each other, if Chapter 84 and Beast are any indication.
It's about trust, in your partner and in your group. It always has been.
Belief #2: The Divide from Humanity
This divide comprises much of the fundamental core and conflict of Dazai's character - his disconnect and alienation from "humanity".
Again, this is not something I really have to defend - this becomes readily apparent to anyone who is the least bit familiar with the author's actual work, No Longer Human, from a cursory read through the manga, and is really quite obvious in the light novels, especially Dark Era, Fifteen and Stormbringer. As of now, it's still an ongoing aspect to his character, and if Oda's words are to be believed, he will likely always struggle with this disconnect to some extent.
However, there's a difference in how this aspect manifests in his dynamics with others across time.
Initially, it is a little like Dazai is unclear on how he differs from others; he only knows that he does in some way. He responds to Mori asking him why he wants to die with genuinely innocent confusion on why one would find worth in living, and responds to Chuuya stopping him from shooting the body with surprise and a simple admittance that not doing such a thing would be the "normal" way to think, before laughing it off.
By Stormbringer and Dark Era, Dazai is all too aware of what is "different" about him - that is, his apparent inability to connect with others in a meaningful way. However, I need to stress that this distance is also at least partially self-imposed. Dazai has internalized his differences from others, his lack of humanity, and decided to put up a front of being some inhuman mafia monster. Think "I am a man hated by righteousness" before repeatedly firing at Akutagawa.
Even with this initial uncertainty, there's one thing he's been quite clear on as different since the beginning: his high intellect, and he wields it like a weapon, appearing somewhat proud of at least this aspect of his distance from others. He's almost cocky about it, complains of boredom, and usually becomes interested in people when they sidestep or outright defy his predictions. It's something we see quite a lot of in his Mafia days and also a little in Entrance Exam. While he appears to grow more attached to people who live their lives in the midst of seeming meaninglessness than those who observe from the sidelines the way he does, he also comes off a bit envious in the same respect, especially when younger.
In some way, I wonder if this doesn't mirror Mykola's envy of those who "don't know they're stuck in a cage", in that sort of ‘how do people not see what I see’ kind of way, or 'if they do, then how can they deal with it'. Dazai’s intellect is rather like a double-edged sword - while it allows him a distinct advantage in prediction he enjoys, it’s likely also a strong contributor to his loneliness and separation from others, much like Ranpo. However, while Ranpo externalized his issues and thought there was something wrong with everyone else, Dazai internalized his and believed there was something wrong with him, which unfortunately caused him to isolate himself even further, rather as a self-fulfilling prophecy regarding the next point.
Dazai is a bit odd about his perceived inhumanity, because on one hand, he wields it when necessary much like his intellect, but on the other, he is almost dismayed by any reminders of his differences from "normal" people, even a bit hurt. A prime example of this is in the Dead Apple prologue, at Chuuya's "no one would believe that" line, but can also be found to a lesser extent in certain interactions in Fifteen, Dark Era, and Stormbringer. A lot of the complexity in Dazai's character comes from this juxtaposition - the mental superiority vs the human inferiority. So, he feels isolated in two ways: one is intellectually, which he tends to see as an advantage, and two is a bit harder to narrow down, but roughly has to do with the nature of the human self and its connections, for which he feels lacking.
Interestingly, Dazai seems to regard people with similarities to himself as threatening, and even gets uncharacteristically direct about how he is going to stop/kill them (Fyodor, Q). An interesting case occurs in Entrance Exam. Entrance Exam is really valuable for looking at Dazai's character because it is very much a transitory period for him, and there is one part in particular close to the end that gives me chills, both in the action and the implications of the action.
I am, of course, talking about the part where Dazai arranges Sasaki's death.
I'm going to expand on this later on once I do my analysis focusing on Sasaki herself, but her and Dazai have some pretty notable similarities between them that I heavily believe Dazai was aware of close to the end. For now, the most important similarity is the way they manipulate others - Sasaki's selective distribution of and often misleading info created situations that encouraged most of the people she contacted to act entirely on their own accord but also in the exact way she intended, without her having to do anything herself. This is quite eerily similar to the way Dazai tends to operate (though I'd say in his case with a bit more finesse that comes from Mori's strategic training).
And Dazai... he arranges her death using this same method. He kicks the gun, Rokuzou picks it up and shoots her out of revenge - and Dazai didn't have to do a single thing.
"She killed too many people."
So have you.
"That was the only way to save her. This was the best we could've hoped for."
........
I think I'll just leave it at that. There's a lot more to this complicated situation that deserves a thorough analysis of it's own, but I do think that the only means in his mind to save an empty, apathetic person who was responsible for too many deaths was to kill her says quite a bit about his mentality at that point.
But that appears to be changing.
I loved that Asagiri confirmed that Dazai's words to Kyouka in Chapters 34 to 36 are genuine. He's being probably as close to honest as we've ever seen. And we know this, because who shows up?
Why hello, Odasaku silhouette. Dazai knows full well how similar Kyouka and Odasaku are - their situations, even their dispositions, I'd say, and the way the both of them seem to unwittingly trigger character development in the people around them lol. But there's more to it than just that.
"Every person has their good and bad points, and your bad point happens to be killing. That's why you think you can't become an Agency member. That's just stupid."
"No one can know everything. That's what possibility is."
"You are not the only person with this kind of distress."
"Why do we fight? How should we live on? There is no one who can tell you the answer. All we have is our right to waver."
None of this is something I'd expect Mafia Dazai, or even Entrance Exam Dazai to say. This is someone who, from my perspective, has the barest, slightest will to live on.
"No one can know everything." In spite of his intelligence, in spite of his eerily accurate predictions, this admittance means that his perception of that intellectual distance is likely somewhat decreasing. He's still on a tier far above most other people... but he's closer to them than he is to a god. He cannot know everything.
It's similar to what he tells Sigma in Chapter 105.
"It's all a play of hands. I'm not a superhuman beyond the limits of human wisdom."
The emotional gap may also be closing a little. I think fondly of Dazai's dry "Don't you have any friends?" to Shibusawa in Dead Apple, then following up Shibusawa's dramatic 'I understand everyone so much that everyone bores me but don't understand myself' spiel with "You wouldn't be saying that if you had friends." Dazai really said friendless behaviour, pfft.
There's also his "I wonder how Kunikida-kun is doing~!" in the prison and his internal (and I thought oddly fond) comparison of Sigma to Atsushi.
Still, though, there is a significant gap in the way he removes himself from other people. Even as Dazai affirms his belief that it is the people who fight through uncertainty and live and breathe within it that create the greatest change, he still excludes himself from that category, placing himself, alongside Fyodor, above all others yet paradoxically inferior in the ability to enact real influence, sitting alone in a prison at the end of the world.
Belief #3: Attachment as a Motive
"I see... so it's all for your partner. Betraying the Mafia, spreading rumours about the old boss's resurrection, this fight we're in now... it's kind of hard to believe, to be honest."
Dazai, in his earliest appearances, seems to underestimate the drastic lengths people will go to in the name of the people they care about. The above line to Rimbaud, after he reveals he did all that he did to find out what happened to Verlaine, indicates that while he does understand bonds between others, he fails to grasp how that could be so incredibly motivating - whereas by contrast, Chuuya understands it instantly.
In fact, earlier in Fifteen, Chuuya's assistance is assured by Mori's capture of the Sheep members, which prevents Chuuya from harming anyone - Mori weaponizes this attachment and responsibility Chuuya has to great effect, and points it out to a bemused Dazai, who doesn't... really care. Dazai seems much more intrigued by the growing strife between the Sheep and their leader, and amusedly pinpoints Chuuya as a "sheep getting stared down by a wolf", before intentionally ramping up the tension. Dazai weaponized the cracks that were already showing between them, and while he seems to have started to acknowledge the importance of attachment as a powerful motivator, unlike Chuuya who sees it as honourable, Dazai at this point seems to regard it as a weakness to be exploited.
While Dazai absolutely shows budding signs of attachment himself in Fifteen and Stormbringer, it's nowhere near enough for it to be a key motivator of his own. He runs on logic. His plans are practical, precise and take no chances; a logical strategist much like Mori.
But that all changes with Odasaku. Odasaku's impact on Dazai was undeniably the strongest motivator for change he's had, but I want to talk a little about Dazai's side of things, and his unusual devotion towards his friend. For as much as Dazai is evasive, incredibly concerning, and apparently added some kind of stimulant to a dish he made for the trio without telling them (!?? bro.), when it comes down to it and things get serious, Dazai is, surprisingly enough, an objectively good friend to Odasaku. He gets panicked when he realizes Odasaku happened on Shibusawa during the DHC. He tells him immediately he doesn't need to use the Silver Oracle to ask for his help. He apologizes for killing the snipers in front of him because he knows Odasaku doesn't like killing (even if, at this point, he doesn't know why he holds this philosophy). He arranges for the kids to be hidden in a safe location once it becomes obvious Gide is targeting Odasaku. He tries to convince Odasaku he can find a reason to live, even though he doesn't, at that point, have one himself. He runs to him at the end, even when it is pointless, even when it is not logical, all because that's his friend. And this isn't even touching Beast Dazai, who wasn't even friends with the guy but saw that another him was, and decided he would do everything he did to protect that one person's dream (thereby missing what Odasaku wanted for him, which also, incidentally, was for his friend to live on, but I digress). Dazai is a surprisingly incredibly devoted friend to him. This guy experienced close friendship and it completely changed his perspective, because he'd never had anything like that before. Connection and understanding are extremely powerful motivators. He knows this now. It's in everything he does. The person is gone, but the bond remains, and it drives him to this day.
It's also important to point out that while we haven't seen the turning point in Double Black's dynamic where they went from uneasy partnership to that intense trust, Chuuya is the poster boy for attachment as a ridiculously strong motive for living. His decision to risk everything for the sake of those he has sworn to protect means that Chuuya is reliable. So, suddenly, Dazai doesn't need to make such stringent plans with him - they can be more loose about it, yet still perfectly in sync. "Chuuya is a reliable partner" is not an opinion to Dazai, it's a fact. Attachment as strength, not weakness. I feel reasonably confident in saying he likely learned this first from Chuuya. It gives him the power to persevere through the pain. It's not always fragile. It can be relied on. Chuuya struggles through his life and finds purpose in his bonds with others, and Dazai, both envious and admiring, picks up that he can utilize this in his plans.
Dazai making plans in the Agency is a little different to how he makes them in the Mafia. While there is still hefty reliance on logic and trickery, there's now an extra caveat of social and moral expectation. Dazai makes plans, knowing that people will carry them out because of the kind of people they are. He's making character judgements, not purely logical ones.
While Mori and Fyodor are also capable of much the same, it's rather unlike their methods, as they use attachment, often by leveraging it. Dazai can and does do this too, but notably, Dazai's allies are also regularly left to act in accordance to what they believe to be right without much direct interference - Dazai uses but also relies on this attachment to people and morality. It's odd, because in a sense, it's both an accurate logical prediction and a form of trust. Many of his plans in the present involve people doing what they would have done anyways given their character, but in a narrowed scope that comes from Dazai's influencing of them and the situation. He knows Ranpo will take charge when the Agency is threatened. He knows Atsushi will risk it all for his friends and family and people who remind him of his younger self. He knows Kunikida will never accept lives being lost if there is something he can do about it. He, highly unfortunately, knows Akutagawa will do anything to gain the recognition he seeks.
It's odd, because while undoubtedly still a manipulative tactic, he also has to know, for certain, that these people will act on their morals, drives, and bonds, otherwise it quite literally would not work. Is it manipulation? Is it trust? I lean towards both. Whatever the case may be, it is clear that Dazai finds at least some value in attachment (even if he, again, still largely detaches himself from pure expressions of this kind of motive - Odasaku was the major exception).
When Fyodor says people are sinful and can't help killing each other even when they know they're being manipulated to it and Dazai replies with yes, and? "What's so wrong with that?"
The way Chuuya wins against Verlaine, because he cared for people and Verlaine, in spite of everything, had at least one person he didn't want to let die. The way Gab might not have met such a tragic end if he'd had the chance to connect the way Atsushi had. The way the isolated Sigma ultimately falls, and Tachihara finds new purpose and drive from his conflicting bonds that should've weakened him but instead gave him conviction.
Attachment can be a foolish thing. It can be logically irrational, and in certain cases leaves one vulnerable, but it's not inherently a weakness. It can also be the source of incredible strength and perseverance. Human connection is the beating, bleeding heart of this series. The Agency barely took a breath after being framed before they were preparing to hold their own and prove their innocence - because the Agency meant something more to them than just a workplace. It's their place to belong. They rally to protect it and each other, just as Dazai knew they would, and he, too, is taking great risks to protect it.
Which brings me to the last point.
Belief #4: Beauty in the Fight
Fyodor and Dazai are foil characters - they are intellectual equals, and their methods of thinking and planning tend to be very similar. However, motivation-wise, they are very different - Fyodor says things like the above, clearly with a low opinion on most others. While Dazai agrees with the statement, he disagrees with the sentiment.
"What's so wrong with that?"
But I'll be honest: I don't think he always felt that way. In fact, I suspect he used to feel similarly to Fyodor when he was younger.
In Fifteen, Dazai describes the situation with the Sheep as similar to the "Undercooked Meat Theory" to Rimbaud, which acts as an analogy for violence - everyone wants to eat more of the meat, so one takes it earlier to get more than everyone else, then another takes it even earlier to get more than that guy, and so on and so forth until they are all eating undercooked meat. Here are some key points from that conversation:
Dazai: "If one person stops, he alone will end up with less meat than the other two. Therefore, each of them is trapped, forced to eat the undercooked meat and nothing else, even though all three know that perfectly cooked meat tastes much better."
Dazai: "It explains at least half the misery in the entire world."
Rimbaud: "I see... in other words, since everyone pursued what was best for them, they couldn't achieve what was best for the group..."
Rimbaud: "Violence and war are not necessary for survival... if everyone agreed to stop fighting and banned all weapons - then violence would be no more. But that isn't realistic. No matter what, someone will break the rules to get ahead of the rest... everyone else... would have to maintain their stance on fighting back only when provoked."
Although Dazai expresses his interest in the criminal underworld as a "thrill", there's cause to believe this dog-eat-dog world is something that Dazai himself personally does not like. After all, shortly afterwards, when Chuuya crashes onto the scene and proclaims that "the strongest always win", Dazai disgustedly says,
"It's people like you who turn the world into undercooked meat."
In a way, it almost reminds me a bit of what Teruko proclaims about what a rubbish society it would be if those with the strongest violence always ended up on top. That's her purpose, as a Hunting Dog - to use violence to stop criminals - but violence to maintain order is still violence. Violence begets violence, but you can't just not defend yourself in a world that wants to hurt you. And so the world goes round, and people still kill each other, often quite needlessly.
It seems both Fyodor and Dazai shared the mentality that people are all the same, self-centered and out to protect themselves at the cost of others; sinful, boring beings. Except Fyodor, a more proactive person, decided he was going to try and fix the problem. Dazai, prone to inaction, did not... and saw nothing interesting in the world worth living for.
"It explains at least half the misery in the world." I wonder, does it explain some of Dazai's misery too? He appears to be drawn to the Mafia, not because of the violence in itself, but because of the honesty with which it is approached. You know what you're getting, with organized crime - there's going to be crime, and death, and murder. The proximity to death is a removal of the veil of social acceptability; the mask over the world - Dazai is hoping that by getting closer to the cruel world's "reality", he'll be able to find that something that the people around him would kill for in order to live.
Unlike Fyodor though, who still sees people as boring for their foolishness, Dazai apparently seems to find them interesting by this point. What changed?
It's worth noting that even though Dazai genuinely thought Chuuya was just an arrogant, violent kid before the confrontation with Rimbaud, in an earlier fight scene, Dazai goes breathless at Chuuya's battle prowess. That sheer display of life and energy and raw destruction is something captivating to him. And that's interesting, because that fight there was one he had just previously been deriding Chuuya for starting - it was pointless violence, to him - and yet, he can't help but watch.
So, when the Arahabaki reveal happens and Dazai suddenly realizes he'd been mistaken about Chuuya, it triggers a shift. Chuuya wasn't looking for power. Chuuya was looking for himself.
In Fifteen, Dazai is intrigued by Chuuya's situation. In Stormbringer, Dazai is invested in Chuuya's story.
Once again, Dazai watches Chuuya fight as he relinquishes control to use the full power of Corruption, carefully watching the progression of it all. When Chuuya turns fallen angel, Dazai says to himself, "That's Arahabaki's - that's Chuuya's true form." This incredible show of strength is not just the result of a raw power. This is the will of a human who has something worth fighting for. Chuuya is not a blank vessel for Arahabaki. Arahabaki is Chuuya's to wield. This is all Chuuya, through and through.
Chuuya, caught in the act of dying, in a last-ditch play that could easily be a self-sacrificial one, surrounded by death and destruction, is nonetheless fighting with all the life within him to defend the lives of his people, with the symbol of his stubborn will to survive (that is, Arahabaki, the singularity that should've killed him) on full wrath and display. To the death-obsessed kid who wanted a reason to live, who did not see why people would fight so hard to live on, such a sight would be breathtaking.
Dazai is drawn to the people who struggle through hardship, and the ones who rebel in the name of valuing life. He becomes interested in Ango when he finds the reports he made on the DHC dead, that he made to preserve their lives even without Mori's permission. Dazai does not want to compromise Odasaku's morals, and is deeply fascinated by the juxtaposition of his Mafia status and his no killing rule, though he doesn't pry for the reason. With Kunikida, much as Dazai does not care much for ideals, he sees how Kunikida keeps on pushing through against every setback and horribly cruel reality check, and I honestly think he respects that.
Then there's this bit when Atsushi has just succeeded in getting Q's doll safely to Dazai after the curse on Yokohama.
"It was your spirit that emerged victorious."
He likes it when people succeed. He wants to see people triumph, against all odds.
I find it fascinating because Dazai becomes most invested in the aspects of the characters that we tend to get invested in - we, the readers, which makes a lot of sense given his consistent observer status. The story is never actively about Dazai, but he's always there, watching others' stories unfold, growing fascinated with the struggles they face and the development they undergo, and feeling pride and admiration when they learn to overcome.
But the tragedy in Dark Era in part was a vicious reminder that the story impacts him too, no matter how much he tries to detach himself - to become invested and connected is to open yourself up to the inevitability of getting hurt. But it's also in this struggle to find balance that we are open to make change, and to live.
Fighting to save a life - even and especially when that life is just your own - there is beauty to be found in that fight.
and we are made of stardust and late-night lovers! we are alive! @chibun-days - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
